When you have implemented new eco-friendly routines into your daily life, there is only one thing left to help our planet even more: convincing others, in particular your friends and family, to embrace the same lifestyle. Nevertheless, this isn’t an easy task, especially if you don’t have a clear plan. Thus, we have put together these four steps to help you out.
Step 1 : Make them acknowledge that climate change is the result of human activities
This may seem stupidly obvious to you but it will be hard to progress in your conversation if the reason why we need to change isn’t clear in their head.
If they are climate sceptics, point out that the IPCC, in other words a group of 721 scientists from 90 countries (in the latest cycle of work) [1], has explicitly stated that ‘the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate’ in their 1995 Second Assessment report [2] ! You can also put forward the fact that the climate has been extremely unpredictable in the last few years – who would have thought we could wear shorts in winter – which is a result of climate change.
Then, remind them (or tell them for the first time) that the reason why humans are modifying the climate is the excessive CO2 emissions. These are generated by burning fossil fuels, on which our modern societies have been built.
Step 2 : Explain how as individuals we contribute to climate change
Here you could follow a similar reasoning : As we have just said, when we burn fossil fuels, we change our earth’s climate. And here’s the revelation : everything we use or do requires fossil fuels at some point in its production. For example, if you go on holiday and take the plane, you directly burn fossil fuels ; or if you eat an apple, fossil fuels were used to power the tractor that sprayed pesticides on it and to transport it to the supermarket where you bought it. However, if you hadn’t decided to fly and eat an apple, you wouldn’t have generated CO2 emissions. Therefore, we individually impact climate change and that’s why we can establish a person’s carbon footprint.
Note : the carbon footprint has a tendency to revert the entire blame onto the consumer, which isn’t entirely fair as the blame is shared with companies and state policies, but as it encourages change, we believe it remains a valid argument.
Step 3 : Show how simple it is to change through examples
Though whatever we do we emit CO2, there are small yet impactful actions to reduce our carbon footprint. For instance, choosing holiday destinations that are accessible by train or car. You can find other examples on our Acting page.
Step 4 : Offer your help to guide them through a progressive lifestyle change
There are multiple different ways to achieve this step. You could gift them an ecological item (see our essentials list) or invite them to an eco-friendly event such as a cleanwalk or a beach cleanup or even suggest they browse the Your Green Footprint website to pick up useful suggestions.
If they still have doubts, they might be addressed in our article on negative remarks about being eco-friendly.
Finally, if they start getting aggressive, shift the conversation subject and wait for another opportunity to approach this topic. The goal isn’t to make you an annoying person who bothers your friends all the time, that can only lead to negative consequences. If they aren’t convinced straight away, that’s fine, just keep leading by example, at some point they might change their opinion.
References:
[1] Climate explained: how the IPCC reaches scientific consensus on climate change
[2] Chapter 3: Human Influence on the Climate System
Written in August/September 2023 © Your Green Footprint